There's no wedding quite so picturesque as the outdoor one. Famous is
the orchard wedding beneath a blossoming apple tree, where the air is
filled with fragrance and the bridal party comes winding through
the trees to the trysting place. It needn't be only a poetic fancy,
either--it's entirely practical, and if you have a comparatively small
house, why not give your guests the beautiful freedom of outdoors
instead of cooping them up in the house?
Mark out the path beforehand by mowing the grass in the chosen
direction. Select plenty of ushers to conduct the guests to the spot
and provide benches and settees for the older folk, who may find it
tiring to stand till the wedding party arrives.
There need be no decorations except the natural ones of the orchard;
preparations may consist of raking out dead leaves and branches.
A victrola may be arranged in the proper place to furnish the wedding
processional--or perhaps some musical friend may be found to play the
violin.
The simpler the pageant, the more effective it will be. First may come
a tiny flower girl in a white frock, swinging a cretonne flowered
sunbonnet from which she tosses apple blossom sprays.
If there are bridesmaids, they should wear the simplest of pink
dresses with pink fillets on their hair or else wide straw hats
trimmed only with a tiny wreath of flowers.
Possibly the maid of honor may add a note of contrast by wearing
forget-me-not blue.
Last of all appear the bride and bridegroom, together, for in an
old-fashioned orchard wedding that is less awkward than for the
bridegroom to come from some other direction. The bride should wear a
simple white gown--formal satin would be out of place.
The wedding breakfast may be served picnic fashion on a long table of
boards decked with apple blossoms. Toasts in strawberry punch are in
order while an orchestra of robins and bluebirds sing in the apple
trees round about--unless the noise drives them away. The little
waiting maids should wear white aprons and white caps with an apple
blossom sprig stuck in the top.
Following them came a flock of flower children, tiny girls and boys
scattering flower petals from the high-handled baskets swinging in
their chubby little hands.
Last of all, four abreast, came the bride and bridegroom, with the
bride's mother, who gave her away, on the right of the bride, and
the best man on the left of the bridegroom. The ribbon girls had
accompanied the procession at the proper intervals holding the aisle
ribbon, and the last two brought up the rear, winding up the ribbon as
they came.
The reception took place immediately afterward on the lawn, and the
guests were served with ice-cream and cake wherever they chanced to be
by the attentive ribbon girls.
In the back yard at a long table a colored caterer superintended the
service.
Altogether it was a most successful wedding and at the same time a
fairly easy one to plan since there was no question of overcrowding in
the house, although in case of rain it could have been managed there.